A Publication of
the Patrick Henry Center for Individual Liberty

First Casualty of War

March 3, 2001

They say the first casualty of war is truth. Most people probably think
that means the U.S. government is empowered to lie about anything, if
it means weíll win a war sooner.

This assumes that the lie is made to fool the enemy, not ourselves.

Most trusting Americans cannot imagine the "fat times" this
war footing provides for the herds of incompetents that occupy so many
of the cubicles of our vast government structure. These burrowed parasites
are willing to lie about anything if their laziness and corruptions remain
undiscovered. All federal slugs relish times of war since they know that
much can be hidden in the name of "national security."

In a small conference room at the U.S. Capitol yesterday, whistleblowers
 old and new  gathered with foundations that sponsor them,
for a meeting with politicians in Washington who think honesty is always
the best policy when it comes to the peopleís business, war or no war.

Leading the parade of the wounded warriors for truth is none other than
Frank Serpico, a former New York City cop who testified many years ago
to serious corruption in the ranks of New York Cityís finest. There were
whistleblowers before Serpico, and there will be many more after, but
his cause was captured in a best selling book and later made into a major
motion picture. Because of this unusual exposure, a disgusted public demanded
reforms that not only cleaned up the corruption, but also protected future
whistleblowers.

Many think itís time for another period of reform. Present at the Paul
Revere Forum are groups devoted to surfacing the truth, such as the Government
Accountability Project, the Project on Government Oversight and my own
Patrick Henry Center. These groups are concerned about truth and the rights
of whistleblowers, but since September 11, 2001 there is also a deeper
concern about our nationís security.

Joining the conference was a recently resigned U.S. Customs federal agent,
Darlene Catalan  a modern day Serpico. She attempted to protect
our borders by aggressively pursuing a major investigation involving numerous
shipments of contraband across the Mexican border. For her dedication
she was rewarded with harassment, ridicule, retaliation and wholesale
assault on her professional and personal reputation. Why? Because Catalan
was getting too close to corruption that apparently went high up the chain-of-command.

Catalanís complaints to her management finally led to her resignation
when she could no longer justify remaining a part of such major corruption.
She either had to resign and surface the truth, or she had to go along
with the fraud.

To her dismay, she learned that the lone U.S. senator who had seemingly
taken up her cause was seen in a cozy social setting with none other than
the U.S. Customs manager believed to be most responsible for the incompetence
and corruption. When Catalan later learned that this same manager had
been selected to fill yet another plum political job, it became clear
to her and her fellow agents that the "fix" was in at the highest
levels of government.

Catalan concluded it was impossible  absent a lawsuit  to
get any justice for what had happened to her and her fellow U.S. Customs
agents, the ones who were honest. So she and others filed federal lawsuits
to recover their good names and some of the salary they were denied because
they had been harassed off the job.

Iíve spent a good deal of time with Darlene, a delightful lady who is
honest and dedicated to surfacing the full truth about the dismal state
of our border protections, especially along the Mexican border. Darleneís
beat has been the thousands of railcars coming over the border, each and
every day. Few pressurized rail tank cars are inspected, yet secreted
inside so many of these huge metal cylinders are tons of narcotics, enough
to keep the price of cocaine on the street low, and the quality of dope
very high.

Darlene Catalan, a devoted wife and mother of three children, worries
about drugs and drug addiction, but what worries her more is the real
chance these tanker cars could be used to make the "worldís biggest
pipe bomb." She knows some terrorists are bright enough to grasp
the potential that our corrupted border inspection system holds.

Catalan points out to any who will listen that a single tanker filled
with chemicals identical to those used in the Oklahoma City bombing would
have 20 times the explosive power. Whatís more, these uninspected rail
cars can be shuttled to any large city and parked in a rental rail spur,
waiting for some date and time for detonation.

Congressmen and senators attending the Paul Revere Forum yesterday should
walk outside and count the few steps that it takes to walk from the U.S.
Capitol to the nearest active rail yard. If theyíll do that, perhaps then
they will pay closer attention to what Darlene Catalan and other whistleblowers
attending the conference are trying to tell them.

But if after hearing Catalan, and peering over at the nearby rail yard
our elected officials canít figure out how to protect their own backyard,
what hope is there for the rest of us?

Truth may, in fact, be the first casualty of war, but letís fix what
our whistleblowers tell us is broken, and not lie about it because weíre
embarrassed to learn the federal government is riddled with incompetence
and corruption after eight years of debating the meaning of "is."

This conference will prove why itís important to praise our truth-telling
whistleblowers and at the same time use their insider knowledge to perhaps
save some lives.